Walur (Amorphophallus variabilis)

Walur (Amorphophallus variabilis) is a plant species in Araceae, herbaceous with tubers, reproducing vegetatively and generatively, small tubers and itching in the mouth which people do not want to eat unless forced to, grows wild but is often cultivated in yards when there is famine.

A. variabilis with a vegetative part having a height of 0.3-1.5 meters, having a green or brown or purplish or black color with bright green or dark green or black or white stripes. Leaves with 1-2 strands. The leaf blade has three parts, each part is further divided in elongated or lanceolate with a tapered tip or tail-like.

Flowers appear when the vegetative organs wither and grow in an independent cob. Stalks long and slender, often with rough pimples. Base with some protective leaves. The flower is triangular elongated with a pointed tip. The top of the cob is elongated. The fruit is crowded, green to red-orange and has 1-2 seeds.

Tubers are yellow and itchy in the mouth when eaten. The tubers produce shoots that can be separated. In times of famine, the tubers are sliced into small pieces and then boiled for eating. The tubers are also grated or ground and cooked in banana leaves.

Leaves, petioles, fruit and fruit cobs are cooked as vegetables. Leaves as food for fish in ponds. Tubers are rich in mannan, a carbohydrate that can be made into konnyaku.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Alismatales
Family: Araceae
Subfamily: Aroideae
Tribe: Thomsonieae
Genus: Amorphophallus Blume ex Decne. in Nouv. Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. 3: 366 (1834)
Subgenus: Amorphophallus
Species: Amorphophallus variabilis Blume in Rumphia 1: 146 (1837)

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS

Brachyspatha variabilis (Blume) Schott in Syn. Aroid.: 35 (1856)

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Amorphophallus variabilis var. cuspidifoliatus Engl. & Gehrm. in H.G.A.Engler (ed.), Pflanzenr., IV, 23C: 80 (1911)
Amorphophallus variabilis var. immaculatus Hassk. in Flora 25(2, Beibl. 1): 8 (1842)
Amorphophallus zeylanicus Engl. in Pflanzenr., IV, 23C: 80 (1911)
Arum caeruleopunctatum Zipp. ex Kunth in Enum. Pl. 3: 33 (1841)
Arum stercorarium Zipp. ex Kunth in Enum. Pl. 3: 33 (1841)

PUBLICATIONS

Aung, Y.L., Aung, M.H., Tan, Y. & Jin, X. (2025). An updated checklist of vascular plants of Myanmar. PhytoKeys 261: 135-364.

Girmansyah, D. & al. (eds.) (2013). Flora of Bali an annotated checklist: 1-158. Herbarium Bogorensis, Indonesia.

Govaerts, R. & Frodin, D.G. (2002). World Checklist and Bibliography of Araceae (and Acoraceae): 1-560. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Govaerts, R. (1995). World Checklist of Seed Plants 1(1, 2): 1-483, 1-529. MIM, Deurne.

Yuzammi (2009). The genus Amorphophallus Blume ex Decaisne (Araceae - Thomsonieae) in Java. Reinwardtia 13: 1-12.

VERNACULAR NAME

English: Walur
Indonesia: Walur
Java: Walur

Aryo Bandoro
Dlium TheDlium
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dlium

Cogon grass (Imperata cylindrica)

Cogon grass ( Imperata cylindrica ) is a species of plant in the Poaceae, an annual grass, sharp leaves, long and scaly shoots, creeping underground, white or purplish flowers, very adaptive and grows in all climates. I. cylindrica has sharply pointed shoot tips that emerge from the ground, up to 3 meters high, short stems, rising above the ground surface. Leaves are long ribbon-shaped, pointed tip, narrow base, up to 100 cm long, very rough and sharply serrated edges, long hairs at the base and wide veins. Inflorescences in panicles, up to 28 cm long, spikes long-haired and white to 1 cm. The seeds spread quickly with the wind or via rhizomes that quickly penetrate the soil. This species grows in tropical to subtropical areas, elevation up to 2000 meters, temperature 20-40C, rainfall 500-3500 mm/year, pH 4-7.5, lots of sunlight to a bit of shade. This plant dominates open land, former forests, dry rice fields, roadsides and so on. This plant contains mannitol, glucose, sacharose...

Liberian coffee (Coffea liberica)

Liberian coffee ( Coffea liberica ) is a species of plant in the Rubiaceae family, a tree up to 20 meters tall, with numerous, radial and irregular branches, brown bark, and linear fissures. The leaves are oval, thick, up to 35 cm long, up to 20 cm long, shiny green, and have petioles up to 1 cm long. The fruit is round to oval, irregular, and up to 2 cm wide. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Gentianales Family: Rubiaceae Subfamily: Ixoroideae Tribe: Coffeeae Genus: Coffea L. in Sp. Pl.: 172 (1753) Species: Coffea liberica W.Bull in Nursery Cat. (William Bull) 97: 4 (1874) HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS Coffea abeokutae Cramer in Meded. Dept. Landb. Ned.-Indië 11: 286, 396 (1913) Coffea abeokutae var. camerunensis A.Chev. in Encycl. Biol. 22: t. 44 (1942) Coffea abeokutae var. indeniensis (Siebert) A.Chev. (1942) Coffea abeokutae var. longicarpa Portères in Ann. Agric. Afrique Occ. 1(2): 224 (1937) Coffea abeokutae var. macrocarpa...

A deep-sea isopod Bathyopsurus nybelini adapted to feed submerged Sargassum algae

NEWS - Incredible footage shows a marine species, Bathyopsurus nybelini , feeding on something that sinks from the ocean’s surface. Researchers using the submersible Alvin found the isopod swimming 3.7 miles down using its paddle-like legs to catch an unexpected food source: Sargassum. Researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the University of Montana, SUNY Geneseo, Willamette University and the University of Rhode Island found the algae sinking, while the isopod waited and adapted specifically to find and feed on the sinking nutrient source. The Sargassum lives on the surface for photosynthesis. The discovery of a deep-sea animal that relies on food that sinks from the waters miles above underscores the close relationship between the surface and the deep. “It’s fascinating to see this beautiful animal actively interacting with sargassum, so deep in the ocean. This isopod is extremely rare; only a handful of specimens were collected during the groundbreaking Swedis...

Dlium